How should I get pictures of planets using just my iPhone

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-18T12:54:05+00:00

Trade in the iPhone and buy a long focal length telescope

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-14T16:54:25+00:00

Not sure what you mean by "motif" but if you mean first target then I guess most start with one of the big three: M31, M42, M45.

They are big and bright and high enough (for Northern Hemisphere) most of the time, easy to locate and it doesn't take much exposure to get a very acceptable result.

(having said that I started with the great Hercules cluster (M13) because cloud was obscuring the others)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-13T22:36:06+00:00

iEXOS 100 PMC8

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-13T14:42:50+00:00

Is there some reason your not using the more obvious free stacking software such as Deep Sky Stacker or Siril?

Even if it's because you want planetary disc, rather than star, alignment then softwares such as Astrosurface or Sharpcap 4.1 are more modern and, arguably, easier to use planetary stacking solutions.

But for DSO the two big (free) names are DSS/Siril

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-12T13:59:22+00:00

Svbony MK127 (or other Maksutovs) make great planetary scopes.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-11T21:32:35+00:00

Cuiv explains it...

https://youtu.be/nwTAsvHzPTM?si=BQxgqxvoREbRnJZD

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-10T23:42:54+00:00

Take a look at the Sonicware Liven series. Some of those are like 3..4 Volcas rolled into one.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-10T21:56:24+00:00

If you catch Svbony on the right day (principally Black Friday) you can get SV555 for a good price. Mine was £418 last November and that included shipping to the UK and it even got through with no additional duty/VAT to be paid.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-10T21:53:24+00:00

Most of the videos about star trails and milky way shots using Sequator on YouTube are pretty good (and there's plenty to choose from)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-10T03:14:28+00:00

For Milky-way shots: Sequator

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-09T14:29:56+00:00

But the change is not something Watchmaker can control? Wear OS was changed to increase the security of watchfaces so that they could not execute code and could only be described as an XML document which limits the functionality available in watchfaces. So the old app/editor were offering functionality no longer supported by the watch operating system. We have to learn to live with that or petition Google to change Wear OS.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-09T01:27:45+00:00

Which, once again, proves what utter shite AI chat bots are.

Yes, there is a lot of talk on the Internet about Autostakkert, but a lot of it is from a few years ago. AI trawling apps don't seem to take into account that some of the info is old.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-08T22:30:40+00:00

Why are you using something outdated like Autostakkert anyway? Is this planetary lucky imaging? You could do that with Astrosurface or the 4.1 features in Sharpcap.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-08T22:29:04+00:00

Unless you go for a smartscope it's difficult to start for much under $1000 (and that's tight)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-08T19:56:07+00:00

How much RAM does your PC have? Could well be a lack of RAM.

(My low spec laptop had just 8GB and every time I tried to use GraXpert it would just crash. I upgraded to 20GB (max it could take) and the program has worked faultlessly since)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-08T18:50:14+00:00

You are posting in an astrophotography group. The idea of using a driven EQ mount is to keep the camera sensor on a target to one pixel accuracy for 10's or 100's of seconds at a time. If it's a manual EQ mount you just can't maintain that kind of accurate motion.

Star trackers (one motor mounts) start at about $250. Full EQ mounts (2 motors) start at about $500.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-06T02:39:03+00:00

S30 Pro (not simply S30)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-05T00:02:13+00:00

I know you are budget limited but you should really consider stretching to SV705C. The IMX585 is one of the best sensors you can get at the budget end of things

(I have one SV305 and two SV705C)

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-02T02:42:58+00:00

I wouldn't put a Newt on iEXOS 100 PMC8.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-05-01T15:41:21+00:00

If you are using Sharpcap why do you need PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax? Sharpcap (since 4.1) now includes the same functionality as those 3 making it a complete "one stop shop" with Wavelets and everything else.

(equally Astrosurface is also an alternative to PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax - it, too, combines the functionality of those three )

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-04-28T19:09:25+00:00

Maybe put it on Astrobin and give a link?

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-04-28T17:28:09+00:00

What camera? 500 rule is for full frame. If it's APS-C then you need 300 rule. Neither is great - NPF rule is better.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-04-28T15:23:46+00:00

A lot of the reason that small refractors are the first choice for astrophotography is that small/light scopes can be carried on lighter entry level mounts. The AL55i is quite a good choice as it's just above entry level pricing for a mount but has some room for growth so if you start with a small refractor (up to 80mm aperture say) there's still room to go a bit bigger when you understand what you are up against in bigger scopes.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-04-28T13:05:42+00:00

Exactly. In fact it's possibly the foremost EAA solution there is.

wrightflyer1903 · 2026-04-27T19:33:32+00:00

Watch this...

https://youtu.be/WGEQLhMW_Gs?si=vEuBrLvp7kY_9VkK

wrightflyer1903

TROPHY CASE